“She said she didn’t see us. Didn’t see us. She was very, very upset.”
The driver did stop and is not expected to be charged.
This makes me furious, but it’s completely expected.
Cars are the only weapon where you can kill someone without consequence, even if it was pure negligence or entirely on purpose.
This sucks all around. Sad for the cyclist who was killed, for the driver who has to live with it, along with the other riders.
How could a cyclist not understand inattentional blindness?
As a motorcyclist, this is one of the first things you learn in class - other people don’t see you because they don’t expect to see you.
Assuming others see you is like planning to make this situation happen.
I’ve had drivers not see me and I have a really annoying headlight flasher with other lights up front.
It’s my life on the line, I never assume other drivers see me - even when they look me in the eye. Ive seen too many mistakes, and avoided (so far) all of them.
I’m a very defensive cyclist (and motorist), but the idea that it’s the most vulnerable people on the road or sidewalk who have to pay attention more than the person behind the wheel is exactly the thing that motorists want to hear.
Why can’t car drivers pay attention? Why can’t they follow the rules and stay below or at the posted speed limits? Why is it that “I didn’t see you” is such an airtight defence, that society basically accepts it as normal without any consequence?
People are getting killed doing ordinary things, and it’s because of someone else driving a multi-ton weapon without any regard for human life.
And it’s not only humans. Some will purposely go out of their way to drive INTO animals, but maybe the animal should have been paying better attention. /s
I’m getting really tired and angry of seeing cyclists and pedestrians getting run over on a regular basis, and then getting blamed for not anticipating every idiot’s move behind the wheel.
Dollars to donuts she was on her phone. It’s not an unfortunate accident, it’s manslaughter
Why would you not expect to see other road users at an intersection? You would expect to see a car, why not a cyclist?
Because everybody on the roads are complete idiots and you should always drive accordingly. Don’t trust blinkers “I had it on from the previous turn”, don’t trust lack of em, don’t trust someone slowing down to let you pass "oh I wasn’t letting them pass (and anyways regular drivers cannot ‘give you right of way’). Don’t trust cars at crossings - people pass when others have stopped. Lower cars can sometimes not see you because of the edge of the car door / the thing that the windshield sits in. Higher cars can not see shorter people or kids.
At the end of the day, cars are 2 ton machines that go at very high speeds, a cyclist is basically 80kg + the weight of the bike. Same in trains vs cars.
It’s worthless to have “he had right of way” written on your tombstone.